A conventional air spring is a device that is arranged between a vehicle body and chassis. The typical air spring has at least one working space that is filled with compressed air, wherein at least one working space is, in each case, delimited at least partially by movable walls in the form of roll-type or fold-type bellow. The working spaces are connected to one another via flow ducts, and the flow ducts have throttle valves.
FIG. 1 shows a portion of a conventional air spring, generally indicated at 10, for a motor vehicle. The air spring 10 has a working chamber 12 filled with compressed air that is at least partially delimited by rolling bellow 14, which forms a rolled fold 14a. When the vehicle experiences spring compression and spring extension, the rolling bellow 14 rolls both on a rotationally symmetrical contour of a roll-off piston 16 and on the inner surface of a guide tube 18. At its ends 20, 22, the rolling bellow 14 is fastened to the connecting parts by clamping rings 24, 26. The air spring 10 has a centrally arranged hydraulic damper including a piston rod 28 connected via and by the air spring cover (not shown) to the bodywork. The piston rod 28 is connected to a damper cylinder 30 that is connected, via a connecting flange (not shown) to a wheel support of the chassis in the conventional manner.
The guide tube 18 is fastened directly to the rolling bellow 14 by being crimped to a support ring 32. Thus, the rolling bellow 14 is thus firmly positioned and fixed relative to the guide tube 18. However, this process step requires preassembly steps and an additional part (support ring), which increase cost and assembly time.
Thus, there is a need to eliminate the crimping process of the guide tube and eliminate a support ring by bonding the rolling bellow directly onto the guide tube during molding of the bellow.